1. The Strength of Weak Ties

The Ties of The Strength of Weak Ties

This project visually describes the importance of Granovetter’s 1973 paper: The Strength of Weak Ties (SWT), one of the most cited papers in the social sciences in the last fifty years. I visually describe features related to the influence of this paper during three different time spans: 1973 - 1980, 1990 - 1997, and 2007 - 2014.

Mark Granovetter

Mark Granovetter

2. Quatifying the relevance of SWT

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Graph

Comparison

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General Importance

  • From 1973 to 2018, the total number of citations to SWT is about 48500.

  • Their citations per year increased 29 times from 1980 to 2010.

Interdisciplinarity

Some disciplines where it is cited:

  • Sociology
  • Economics
  • Internet security
  • Business

3. 1973 - 1980

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Explanation

  • SWT started to grow in its citations numbers since it was a new paper.

  • The most important authors are Laumann, Burt, and White.

  • The topics include social theory, analysis, and structure.

Cites

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Word Clouds

Authors

4. 1990 - 1997

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Explanation

  • The number of citations continue to work.

  • The lead authors are Burt, Wellman, and Marsden.

  • Some relevant topic include social support and structure, groups, and community.

Cites

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Word Clouds

Authors

5. 2007 - 2014

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Explanation

  • The number of citations growth steadily after 45 years.

  • Lead authors: Burt, Uzzi, and Putnam.

  • Adding business words: social capital, innovation, performance.

Cites

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Word Clouds

Authors